1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a container, and especially to a folding container used for transporting or shipping Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) panels.
2. Description of Prior Art
The process of fabricating an LCD generally comprises forming an LCD panel (known as a “cell process”), and assembling the LCD panel with other parts such as a driving integrated circuit (IC), a printed circuit board (PCB), a backlight system, etc. (known as a “modular process”). The cell process and the modular process are usually performed at different factories in different districts of a country or even in different countries. This is because the modular process is generally labor-intensive. Therefore, after the cell process, the LCD panels are generally shipped or transported to another district or country where labor costs are most favorable.
A conventional container used to transport LCD panels is shown in FIG. 6. The container comprises a main body 11 having a parallelepiped configuration, and a cover (not shown). The main body 11 comprises a pair of opposite side plates 13, 15. Each side plate 13, 15 defines a plurality of vertical slots 131, 151. Each pair of corresponding opposite slots 131, 151 receives and holds an LCD panel 2. After all the LCD panels 2 are received in the main body 11, the cover is attached on the main body 11, thereby forming a protective receptacle for the LCD panels 2.
The container is made of expanded polypropylene (EPP), so that it has good shock-proof characteristics. In addition, a plurality of the containers is secured in a larger, strong receptacle (not shown), to protect the containers from being accidentally hit or squeezed during transportation. The larger receptacle is also parallelepiped-shaped, so that it can easily receive the containers and provide sufficient protection therefor.
However, once the LCD panels 2 are unloaded from the containers, the empty containers must be returned to the cell process factory from which they came. The empty containers take up a lot of space, which results in high freight costs.
An improved container that overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages is desired.